Best Chocolate Cupcakes

It might be time to take a little break from all things “fall” and food made with pumpkin and thoughts about Thanksgiving (coming up so fast!) and have a little sumpin sumpin that’s chocolate,

Best Chocolate Cupcakes

I mean, you can never go wrong with chocolate, amirite? Any time of year. And when that chocolate delivery system comes in a compact cupcake form like these Best Chocolate Cupcakes, even better.

And when the Best Chocolate Cupcakes are super easy? Major brownie points. (or would that be cupcake points?!) I love recipes like this that are just stirred together. No mixer needed. Love, love, love them!

These cupcakes are super tender and moist and will stay moist for days. The only drawback is that they are moist enough to leave a little behind on your hands, but oh well. Suck it up, buttercup, and tuff it out – they’re worth it! You’ll want to use a light, well whipped frosting on them.

Best Chocolate Cupcakes

And speaking of frosting, Best Chocolate Cupcakes bake up with only a very only a very slight dome, which makes them great for frosting. And more will come about this frosting, later. Which, although very nice, now, took me several attempts to get just right – see my Cute Ghost Frosting Fail, below!

The recipe makes an odd amount: 16 cupcakes. But the cupcakes have to be filled just a bit over the halfway point and not quite 2/3rds to come right up to the top of the liners but not too far over. I fill them all, then use a teaspoon to move the batter around if needed.

So one final thought: I can’t say more about bringing in food at a budget than to stress that just like the stock market, it’s all about timing. Buy low. And baking goods are hard to find at a lower price than right now, during what I call the Trifecta of Holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Stock up.

Preheat oven to 300°F (148°C) and prepare two cupcake pans with liners.

Add the dry ingredients to a large bowl and whisk together. Set aside. Combine the egg, buttermilk, vegetable oil and vanilla in another bowl.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until well combined. Add the hot coffee or hot water to the batter and mix until well combined. Batter will be thin.

Fill the cupcake liners just a little above halfway (transfer the batter to a bowl with a spout or a large measuring cup to make this easier) and bake for 18-23 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs and the top springs back when lightly pressed.

Remove the cupcakes from oven and allow to cool enough so they hold their shape (about 10 minutes) then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

I had a bit of a Pinterest fail when I couldn’t get the frosting right for the cute little ghosties – but I think I recreated Donald Trump in this one! It’s almost better than Jesus on a piece of toast. If only the frosting had been orange!!

Thanks for the chocolate break Mollie!! I love all the holiday baking– but when January hits, all I want are brownies!! these look great– and the frosting is so pretty! And– I so agree with coffee added to chocolate baking– I don’t drink coffee, but love coffee ice cream and coffee in chocolate cake!! take care Mollie. xox

I don’t drink coffee, either, but I always keep some instant espresso on hand! Unless I have company, then I’ll step up and buy actual coffee or beans!! I only had coffee ice-cream once – not my fave….

Mollie sorry for the delay in getting back to you. These were absolutely fantastic. We all thoroughly enjoyed them. They did not last long in my house and my hubby no sooner finished the last one and asked when I would be making them again. We have a winner here for sure !!!!! Thanks so much for sharing this great recipe.x

Great! I’m so glad you guys liked them and appreciate you stopping by and letting me know! We thought it was hard to eat just one (or two!) And we excused ourselves because, well, they’re just little cupcakes, lol!

Hi Mary Belle! I was wondering if anyone had noticed that – and it was purely accidental but a bit wicked of me to post it, lol! Hugs and blessings right back, and let me know how you like the cupcakes if you get a chance to try them!

Thanks much! It took two times for me to get the frosting just right, but the effort (of eating all those cupcakes, lol) was worth it! I was just thinking today how much better this would have looked with the little silver balls (dragee) would have looked on the frosting. Next time!